Folding pedestal



No. 608,659. Patented Aug. 9, I898. J. L. ERWIN.

FOLDING PEDESTAL.

(Application filed Nov. 14, 1896.) (N o M 0 d e1.)

2 Sheets-Sheet l.

8 9 m 1 nw U A d e n 8 t a P L M S MF- D RE EDI m L 0 F (Application filed Nov. 14, 1896.)

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

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JAMES LOOKE IJRVVIN, OF BURLINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA.

FOLDING PEDESTAL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 608,659, dated August 9, 1898. Application he; November 1t, 1896. Serial no. 612,076. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JAMES LOOKE ERWIN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Burlington, in the county of Alamanee and State of North Carolina, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Folding Pedestals, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to a folding pedestal or stand for the use of undertakers in supporting burial-caskets and for other uses and purposes.

The object of the invention is to provide a pedestal which may be folded into small compass and which when opened and arranged for use will be perfectly firm and absolutely safe against accidental displacement of its members.

The invention consists of two frames, each composed of uprights connected by top and bottom cross-bars and supplied with suitable feet, the cross-bars being provided with gains or mortises, and a vertical connecting-rod, whereby the said frames may be folded alongside of one another and also may be interlocked at right angles to one another, the said frames in this last-named interlocked position being otherwise and additionally locked together, so as to insure against accidental displacement, all as I will proceed now more particularly to set forth and finally claim.

I11 the accompanying drawings,illustrating my invention, in the several figures of which like parts are similarly designated, Figure 1 is a perspective view of the pedestal folded. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the pedestal arranged for use. Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation. Fig. 4. is a top plan view of the folded pedestal. Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional view of the upper interlocking joint.

Without thereby limiting my invention to the use of any particular material for the construction of my pedestal I will describe the invention as constructed of wood and metal. There are two frames of similar construction, and each frame is composed of uprights o. a, which'are connected by the cross-bars b c. The uprights and crossbars may be further bound together by ornamental metal straps (Z and the ornamental metal braces e. The up rights may be provided with any suitable ornamental feet f.

The cross-bars b and c of one frame are 1 provided with the gains or mortises g in their upper surfaces, and the cross-bars l) andc of the other frame are provided with the gains or mortises hin theirlowersurfaees, and these gains or mortises are cut to one-half the depth of the cross-bars, so that when the said crossbars are fitted together at right angles the upper surfaces of the said cross-bars will be perfectly flat and level. The gains or mortises are of such shape and so disposed as to provide for the interlocking of the cross-bars at right angles, and the frames are so arranged with relation to one another that one frame may be lifted clear of the other and be swung around into a plane nearly parallel with the length of the cross-bars of the other, as shown, respectively, in Figs. 2 and 1.

Inorder to provide for the permanent engagement or union of one frame with the other, I pass a vertical connectingrod i centrally through the cross bars of the two frames, and this red is enough longer than the distance between the two cross-bars of any one frame to permit of the lifting of one frame clear of the other for purposes of fold ing, the additional length of said rod being disposed below the lower cross-bars. By 0011- neeting the upper and the lower cross-bars by means of this single connecting-rod 'L' the alinement of the frames is always preserved and the engagement of the gains or mortises always insured.

When the cross-bars are made of wood, it

will be desirable to line or reinforce the gains with metal plates 7c.

While the frames when arranged at right angles, as in Fig. 2, interlock and while such interlocking may be. sufficient with careful handling, still in order to insure the stability of the pedestal and to preclude the possibility of the movement of the thus -int-erlocked frames one upon the other, as by a person jostling them or against the casket supported upon the pedestals, I prefer to use means for additionally locking the cross-bars together, and for this purpose I provide one of the up per cross-bars with any suitable latch or look which will automatically or otherwise positively lock the said two frames together when they are arranged at right angles to one another, as in Fig. 2. I have shown one form of such lock, and, as illustrated in detail in Figs. 3 and 5, it consists of a lever Z, arranged in a mortise in one of the cross-bars and pivoted at Z and provided with a thumb-piece Z projecting into a countersink in the face of the upper cross-bar and having a nose Z which is adapted to engage a keeper m on the other cross-bar. This lever is normally sprung to engage the said keeper by means of a spring a, and the nose is so beveled that as the cross-bar of one frame is dropped into the gain of the cross-bar of the other frame the lever will be retracted to permit the said cross-bar, to drop into interlocking position with the other cross-bar and then Will spring into engagement with the keeper m. The frames may be released by depressing the lever by pressure on its thumb-piece Z I am aware that it is not new with me to provide folding pedestals for the support of caskets and other objects and that heretofore such pedestals have been supported in condition for use by means of interlocking devices, and I am also aware that such folding pedestals have been provided with a locking device; but I am not aware that prior to my invention any such pedestal has been constructed, as is mine, to interlock automatically when arranged for use and in addition to such interlocking capacity inherentin its construction has been provided with an auxiliary looking device which may not be displaced by the cantin g or tilting of one frame upon the other, and I esteem it of the utmost importance that a folding pedestal should have its members locked against the peradventure of displacement when in use for obvious reasons.

What I claim is 1. A folding pedestal, consisting of two frames each composed of uprights and crossbars connecting the said uprights at their tops and near their bottoms, the said crossbars being provided with matching gains or mortises, and a central rod passed through the several cross-bars of the two frames, pivotally connecting them and of greater length than the distance between the said cross-bars,

so as to permit the said frames to be lifted one out of the other for folding purposes, substantially as described.

' 2. A folding pedestal, consisting of two frames, each composed of uprights, and crossbars connecting the said uprights at their tops and near their bottoms, the cross-bars having interlocking gains or mortises, and a central connecting-rod, combined with an additional and positively-actin g locking device for engaging the interlocked frames and securing them against accidental displacement, substantially as described.

3. A folding pedestal, consisting of similar frames composed of uprights and pairs of cross-bars connecting them at their upper and near their lower ends, a central rod pivotally connecting the said frames through their cross-bars, the said cross-bars having interlocking gains or mortises, and an auxil' iary locking device operating automatically to permit the engagement of the gains or mortises of the respective cross-bars and to positively lock the said cross-bars and conse-- quently the frames when the gains or mortises are so engaged, substantially as described.

l. A folding pedestal, consisting of two similar frames, each composed of uprights, and cross-bars connecting such uprights at their tops and near their bottoms, and provided with matching gains or mortises, the said frames being pivotally united and adapted to be separated for folding purposes, and to be interlocked by means of the gains or mortises for purposes of use, combined with an auxiliary locking device arranged in the cross-bar of one of the frames and positively engaging the cross-bar of the other frame, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 13th day of November, A. I). 1806.

JAMES LOOKE ERNVIN.

\Vitnesses:

WM. ll. FINoKEL, E. A. FiNoKuL. 

